


A Tale of Enchantment, Revelations, and Hair-Pulling

by amelia_petkova



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: au_bingo, Episode Re-Write, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-14
Updated: 2010-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-13 16:19:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/139252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amelia_petkova/pseuds/amelia_petkova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A rewrite of 1x07. Sophia's fairly incompetent at the whole “seducing Prince Arthur and drowning him thing.” However, this means that she gets to live. Written for the "Alternate History: Someone Never Died" square on my bingo card.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale of Enchantment, Revelations, and Hair-Pulling

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Merlin and its characters are owned by the BBC.
> 
> Originally posted to my LJ in August of 2010.
> 
> I played a bit fast and loose with this one; most of the events covered are the ones before Sophia dies in canon. I’ve revised some of the canon events in order to arrive at the “doesn’t die” conclusion. Also, since the “magic speech” in the show is gobbledy-gook as far as I can tell, I’ve just written it in English where necessary.

There are many kinds of love: love at first sight; affection shown through hair-pulling and name-calling; fondness that grows over a long acquaintance. And then there are love spells.

Sophia crept out of her bedchamber. The day had gone well: Prince Arthur had already shown mild attraction to her, even without magical aid. After her work was done, he would be wholly under her control.

She and her father had been housed at the other end of the castle but by listening to the servants, she had learned the location of Arthur’s bedchamber. The hallways were confusing but she was sure she remembered correctly. She found the door unlocked. The figure in the bed didn’t stir when she entered the room. She knelt by the pillow. “You will love only me. You will think about nobody else but me…”

“What did you say?” Gwen sat up and stared blearily at the strange woman next to her bed.

Sophia blushed. “Sorry, wrong room.”

#

“When you think of me, you will instantly want to be by my side.”

Merlin rolled over. “Gaius, I don’t want to get up yet.”

“Damn it!”

#

“This is the right room, this is the right room,” Sophia chanted under her breath. “You’ll find Prince Arthur, you’ll cast the spell, and then you can go back to bed.” She shook out her hair and made sure that her dress clung attractively. She stepped up to the bed and used her magic to create a small light.

The light revealed the Lady Morgana, moving restlessly underneath her blankets.

“Oh, bloody hell.” Sophia turned and stamped out of the room. Their return to Avalon could wait one night.

#

Sophia and Aulfric sat next to each other at breakfast the following morning. “Is the prince under your control yet?” he asked in a low voice.

“Not yet. I…had trouble finding his bedroom.”

“How could you be so careless? We don’t have time to waste!”

“There are a lot of bedrooms here! You know, he’s not even that attractive.”

“That’s not the point!” Aulfric snapped. “As the prince of Camelot his soul will be an acceptable sacrifice and that’s all that matters. You’ll have to be wary of his servant as well. I sensed some magical talents from the boy.”

“We’re going riding later this morning. I can try again.” She sighed and walked away.

Aulfric made a face over the slop that humans passed off as fine dining. “When we get back to Avalon, I’m grounding her.”

#

They had gotten away from the castle without being stopped and now strolled through the forest. Sophia felt confident; Arthur was already halfway to besotted, and she hadn’t even done anything.

“Arthur, wait just a moment,” she said.

“What is it?”

She stepped forward. As he stared at her, she began to recite the spell. “You will love only me. You will think about nobody else but me. When you think of me, you will instantly want to be by my side…”

He blinked and the moment passed. “What were you saying?”

Sophia stared. Why wasn’t he bewitched? He was supposed to be completely under her power, and he was acting like nothing had happened. Maybe her father was right when he complained that she didn’t study enough.

“I was clearing my throat.”

And he believed her. Not only was he not enchanted, he was gullible, too.

“I’m a little tired,” she said. “Could we return to the castle?”

He looked disappointed but said, “Of course.” He had the nerve to try to support her as they walked back to the horses and she let him.

#

Sophia climbed the staircase that led to her father’s chamber. Soon she would have to tell him what had happened—or rather, what _hadn’t_ happened—and he would lecture her yet again. She felt a headache coming on.

Trying to remember the spell that would prevent migraines, she collided with somebody. “Sorry.” Sophia looked up and saw the Lady Morgana, the woman who had been staring at her ever since she and Aulfric arrived.

“I know why you’re here and I won’t let you hurt him.”

Great. Even if Morgana suspected the wrong thing, Sophia was in no mood to deal with it. “Can this wait? I have to talk with my father.”

Morgana grabbed her shoulder. “If you hurt him, I’ll hunt you down.”

Sophia glared. “You have five seconds to get your hands off of me.”

It’s hard to say exactly how it started, but it ended with Morgana and Sophia pulling each other’s very long, very abundant hair.

“Ow, you got it tangled in my earring!”

“So let go of me!”

“You first!”

“No, you!”

“We’ll both let go on the count of three.”

“Fine. One, two, three!”

The two women stepped apart, breathing fast. “I’m not really very good at murdering princes,” Sophia said as a peace offering.

“Why don’t we talk about that?”

Having straightened their clothing, Morgana and Sophia retired to Morgana’s chambers. They sent for a tray of pastries from the kitchen and were rapidly becoming good friends.

“And so my father wants me to sacrifice him so we can go home to Avalon,” Sophia concluded.  
“It’s not going very well and I’m just about ready to give up on the whole thing.”

“What’s the problem? I disobey Uther all the time.”

“I can’t go against my father’s wishes!”

Morgana patted her hand. “Disobeying parents gets easier each time you do it.”

“If you say so. So how did you know I was coming?” Sophia asked.

“This is going to sound stupid but I had a nightmare about you.”

Sophia nodded; the other woman’s immediate dislike became understandable. “You’re a seer.”

“No, I just have nightmares.”

Really, mortals could be so oblivious. “And how often do you have these ‘nightmares’?”

“All the time. They’re always about something bad that will happen in Camelot, usually to Arthur, and—oh.”

“Exactly.” Sophia tipped her head to one side. “You really do have nice hair. Have you thought about beads?”

#

Few people were in a good mood at supper that evening. Sophia had avoided telling Aulfric of the day’s lack of success and now dodged his attempts to get her alone for a scolding; Arthur clumsily flirted; Uther appeared to believe that their magical staffs were only walking sticks; and the servants Merlin and Gwen looked as if they knew exactly what was going on. At least Morgana had stopped appearing as though she wanted to shove Sophia’s face into the soup.

“Sophia, I was wondering if you’d like to go out to the lake tomorrow?” Arthur asked. “You’d love the view.”

“What an excellent idea,” Aulfric agreed, the very picture of a benevolent father who approved of his daughter’s suitor.

“Unfortunately, Arthur has many duties to attend to,” Uther said.

“Anyway, he can’t go to the lake because she’ll try to drown him,” Merlin said, then clapped his hands over his mouth.

“Yeah, well—you’re a wizard!” Sophia shot back.

Uther’s face turned bright red and his eyes bulged. “Arrest that sorcerer!” he roared, rising from his chair.

“Oops.” Merlin waved his hand and recited a string of words in the wizards’ speech. Uther sat back down, staring vacantly ahead. “There, he won’t remember anything.”

“Now’s our chance!” Aulfric told his daughter.

Sophia glared. “I’m sick of being yelled at.” She pointed her staff at her father. He froze in the position of leaning over the table.

When she turned back to the conversation Arthur was saying, “Merlin, you can’t just go putting spells on my father!”

Morgana examined the dazed king. “I kind of like him this way.”

“That’s not helpful, Morgana.” He turned to Merlin. “And since when are you a wizard?”

“Since before I came to Camelot,” Merlin said in a small voice.

“How come you didn’t tell me?”

“You _are_ Uther’s son.”

Arthur glared. “We’ll settle this later.”

“We have to get rid of her.” Merlin stared at Sophia. His eyes began to turn gold. Sophia gripped her staff.

“We’re not killing her,” Morgana said.

“But she’s going to murder Arthur!”

“We’ve gotten that straightened out. She’s very sorry and she won’t do it again.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Morgana said. Sophia nodded vigorously.

“You’re just going to let her go after she was involved in an attempt to end my life?” Arthur asked Merlin.

He shrugged. “It happens all the time. I end up saving your life at least once a week. You really haven’t noticed?”

“No, but now you’re going to start telling me everything.”

“I guess it’s all right then,” Merlin said reluctantly. “But what about Aulfric?”

“I’ll take care of him later,” Sophia promised.

“Then it’s settled,” Arthur said. He put a hand of Merlin’s shoulder and steered him towards the door. “We need to have a talk about this wizard thing.”

The others started to follow. Gwen stopped them, asking, “Shouldn’t somebody do something about the king?” Uther continued to sit in his chair, not seeing or hearing any of them.

“I’ll have to change his memory,” Merlin said. “That is, unless you want me to be executed and do without a servant,” he added to Arthur.

“Don’t push it.”

Morgana grinned. “I have a few ideas…”

 **Epilogue**

Sophia had just ended her latest contract as court sorceress for King Olaf when she heard of Arthur’s approaching coronation. She arrived on the day of the celebration. Groups of people filled the castle but she easily found Morgana in the throne room. “I heard you became evil.”

Morgana shrugged. “I got better. I found out I have a sister though, so it wasn’t a total waste.”

“Good to know.”

They watched Arthur, Gwen, and Merlin standing together at the dais. “Whatever happened to your father?” Morgana asked.

“I haven’t seen him in a while. He never really recovered from the ‘failed attempt to return to Avalon by sacrificing Arthur’ thing. I think he rambles a lot, mostly.”

“That’s too bad.”

The celebration continued around the two women. Morgana turned to Sophia and smiled. “Let’s go push Arthur into a fountain. It’s not a lake, but it could still be fun.”

“I always did like the way you think.”

And so the two sorceresses walked through the crowd. Arthur might be the Once and Future King (according to Merlin when he’d had too much to drink) but he was still only human.


End file.
